Michigan

Prayers for Steve Kampfer tonight

The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, regardless of the sport is always heated. Unfortunately, at Yost on Saturday night, MSU's Andrew Conboy and Corey Tropp took that to a disgusting new level.

Late in Michigan's 5-3 win - a victory that wrapped up a 5-0 season sweep of the Spartans - Conboy and Tropp responded to a clean neutral-zone hit by Steve Kampfer by attacking him. Conboy skated up behind Kampfer and landed a cheap shot punch, knocking Kampfer (who just recently returned from serious neck and head injuries) to the ice. Tropp then added to the situation by apparently slashing at the laid-out Michigan defenseman, who then stayed down for several minutes while attended to by Michigan's trainer.

After the game, Kampfer was seen being transported via gurney to an ambulance with a brace around his neck. No further details on Kampfer were available. Berenson refused to comment, saying he didn't see the play unfold.

"Something like that, at the end of the game, is uncalled for," senior forward Travis Turnbull said. "It's ridiculous and we're really not going to forget that."

"To be honest, that was a classless move on their part," junior captain Chris Summers said. "Whether it's an individual thing or a team thing, to be honest, I think it was embarrassing. With the game of hockey comes a lot of respect for one another. These matchups are going to get intense but for that team to do that, for those players to do that, is completely uncalled for and unnecessary."

First thing's first, and that is just for all of us to hope that Kampfer is OK after this -- he worked hard to come back this year, so to see this happen not only hurts Michigan's hockey team, but it is horrible for the young man.

Beyond that, the CCHA needs to take a long, hard look at suspending the two MSU players for multiple weekends, if not the rest of the season. This was, pure and simple, an intent to injure. And not just by one guy making a dirty play, but two Spartans teaming up. Both Conboy and Tropp will sit out next Friday's MSU game after receiving match penalties, but that's not enough, in my opinion.

There's absolutely no room for this type of behavior in any sport. It's one thing to play up the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, or to try and land a big hit to fire up your team. It's completely another to come up behind a defenseless player and purposely try to take him out.

If there are any updates on Kampfer's situation, pending suspensions or even future legal action, I'll get it up here. Hopefully, we get some good news on Michigan's young defenseman really, really soon.